With binaural beats, you can change your mental state at will (more specifically you can shift your affect along the arousal axis). Binaural beats are an auditory illusion created when your brain tries to reconcile two tones at different frequencies. 

Transition into one of five frequency bands, natural brain wave ranges, that alter your awareness, lucidity, concentration, and alertness. Binaural beat listeners report many positive effects such as better sleep, improved mood, reduced anxiety, and enhanced focus. Keep reading to learn more about what binaural beats are, how they affect your brain, and how to listen to binaural beats correctly.

What are Binaural Beats?

A Binaural Beat is a beat created virtually by your brain when two beats with different frequencies are heard separately in each ear. It’s not a true beat, but an auditory illusion in response to the loudness fluctuation by binaurally presented amplitude-modulated tone.

This binaural beat, discovered in 1938 by a German scientist, is your brain reconciling the phase variation between the two frequencies.

Looking at the image above, if you listen to a frequency at 440 Hz in one ear and a frequency at 480 Hz in your other, your brain will create a binaural beat at the frequency of 40 Hz. Your brain is taking the constant-amplitude, constant-frequency inputs (meaning binaural beats audio isn’t a beat but is typically a solid tone) from each ear and creating an amplitude modulation at 40 Hz. This amplitude modulation is what creates the illusion of a beat in your brain. Put simply, to calculate the frequency of the binaural beat your brain ‘makes’, find the difference between the two different frequencies in your ears. 

Binaural beats can impact your psychomotor mood and performance, shifting you into a new mental state of your choosing, along the arousal axis. The frequencies reach your reticular system, also known as the diffuse activating system, which is responsible for monitoring the environment. The reticular system will attempt to find homeostasis with the binaural beats, adjusting the brain waves to the same corresponding frequency band. 

How do Binaural Beats affect your brain?

Research has continually shown that cognitive functions are impacted by brain oscillations. Your brain waves can be measured in Hertz (Hz), using an EEG or electroencephalogram. A higher frequency (again in Hz), means your brain is working faster (high arousal), with more speed cycles per second. A slower frequency means your brain is not very active (low arousal), such as when relaxing, resting or sleeping. The frequencies of your brain are associated with different mental states. There are 5 main frequency bands, with increasing frequency ranges. Each frequency band is associated with different behavioral states and cognitive effects: 

1. Delta (1-3 Hz)

2. Theta (4-7 Hz)

3. Alpha (8-12 Hz)

4. Beta (13-30 Hz)

5. Gamma (30-100 Hz)

   
   

• Delta Band (1-3 Hz)

Binaural beats within the delta range are closely associated with relaxation and deep sleep. Human sleep can be categorized into non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. NREM sleep can further be subdivided into 3 stages, N1, N2, and N3. With each phase, a person is falling into a deeper sleep and will require a stronger stimulus to arouse from sleep. Research indicates that when your brain is in the delta band, you enter the N3 (slow-wave sleep) stage quicker and spend more time there. As you age, you spend less of the night in the N3 stage. This is why the elderly are much lighter sleepers and prone to arousing at any stimulus. 

Some believe that listening to binaural beats within the delta range may help you sleep deeper and feel more rested. Much of modern society is perpetually sleep-deprived, due to stress and overwork, and everyone’s always looking for a way to get better sleep. Unfortunately, research suggests that there are no statistically significant changes to your EEG when listening to the delta band. Feel free to listen to binaural beats in this range if you want, but you won’t experience a mental state shift like you would with the other bands.

• Theta Band (4-7 Hz)

Theta brain oscillations are associated with relaxation and meditation, allowing the brain to slow down. You may also experience cognitive enhancements in alertness, working memory, and attention. If you are new to meditating, the theta band will help you enter a deeper meditative state. And if you’re stressed or anxious, that binaural beats may provide some relief and improve your ability to relax.

• Alpha Band (8-12 Hz)

The alpha-band between 8-12Hz is noted for its effect on suppressing distracting information that needs to be ignored. By suppressing distractions, when your brain is oscillating in the alpha-band, you may experience a heightened ability to focus. 

If your brain was not able to selectively focus because of the irrelevant stimuli or noises around you, you would not be able to function normally. It’s hypothesized that in those with Autism spectrum disorders or attention deficit disorder (ADD), the function of this attention suppression mechanism, may be inhibited. 

Try the alpha band if you need help focusing, but aren’t looking to put your brain into overdrive with the gamma band. Using alpha binaural beats is good for slowing down your brain and letting distractions fall away. Alpha waves may also trigger heightened creativity levels. 

• Beta Band (13-29 Hz)

Your brain usually spends most of your non-sleeping hours in the beta band. When you are within the 13 to 29 Hz range, you are engaged and alert. Beta thinking is sometimes liked to busy thinking or low-level concentration. 

If you’ve just woken up and need help with arousal to get your day started, try listening to the beta band during your morning routine or sipping on some coffee. Feel yourself falling into an anxious slump, but need to keep moving ahead in your day, again beta band may help. 

• Gamma Band (30-100 Hz)

The Gamma band is linked to heightened alertness and awareness. It’s also usually registered on an EEG during activities where a person is very concentrated and immersed in an activity. Essentially, your brain is at maximum efficiency and working very hard to make connections and learn. If you want to take your brain to that state, you can use gamma-band binaural beats.  

Use of the gamma band is commonly used among students tackling complex subjects or projects. Provide the extra push with binaural beats to get yourself into the right mental state for rigorous thinking and problem-solving. 

Using Binaural Beats To Change Your Mental State

Binaural beats aren’t music in the traditional sense but are an auditory phenomenon produced by your brain. That doesn’t mean that binaural beats can’t change your mental state. Psychologists refer to your general emotional state as your affect. Affect is usually described as a mixture of valence (goodness vs badness) and arousal (low vs high). 

Note how positive emotions like satisfaction, enjoyment, optimism, and relaxation are on the positive valence side. While negative emotions like distress, deception, and boredom are on the negative valence side. High arousal emotions include surprise and alertness, while low arousal emotions include calm and fatigue. 

Different brain wave bands are associated with different levels of arousal but aren’t associated with valence. Therefore binaural beats within each band can shift your mental state along the arousal axis, but not the valence axis. For example:

• Delta Band – induces a low arousal state and can shift your emotions to a state of relaxation or boredom depending on your current valence 

• Alpha Band – induces a high arousal state and can shift your mental state to alert and focused

• Beta Band – induces a high arousal state and can shift your mental state to alert or surprise

• Gamma Band – induces a high arousal state and can shift your mental state to alert or surprise

How to listen to Binaural Beats

To listen to binaural beats, all you really need are headphones and binaural beats audio. But that’s the bare-bones experience. If you want to maximize the experience for you and your brain, there are some best listening practices you should employ. Select which of these practices makes sense for you and incorporate it into a binaural beat listening session. You’ll notice the improvement in your brain’s ability to shift into the specific binaural state you are targeting. 

• Only Headphones

When listening to binaural beats, you have to be wearing headphones, otherwise you would not get 2 separate sounds into your ears. Prioritize great sound quality with a strong bass, and you’ll be ready to start listening. 

The headphones as well as where you are playing them are going to affect the sound quality that is delivered to your brain. Your brain has to pick up on the two separate frequencies, in order to imagine the third ‘ghost’ binaural beat. For best results, use an external DAC.

• High-Quality Binaural Beats

Not all binaural beats are created equally. You can listen to free options on YouTube, but the audio quality on YouTube is poor. For the best results, you will probably need to purchase high-quality binaural beats. The most commonly cited high-quality binaural beats can be found at Binaural Beats Meditation, Ennora, or iAwake Technologies. Buy individual tracks or pre-selected packs and you’ll enjoy the great audio quality. 

• The Right Environment

If you’re listening to binaural beats for the mental shift, you need to find a quiet place to sit and get comfortable. You want somewhere free from distractions, and preferably somewhere you are alone. Listen to the binaural beats of your choice, whether it’s the alpha band for focus or theta band for relaxation or meditation. Allow your mind the space and time to regulate the binaural beat. 

• 30 Minutes Minimum

If you do have an actual binaural beat experience and shift your brain to the specific band you’re targeting, then you need to listen for long enough. The general recommendation is at least 30 minutes. The longer you listen, the more time your brain oscillations have to modulate to what you are listening to. 

• Right Mental State

Binaural beats can shift your arousal. Alpha, beta, and gamma bands can increase your arousal, while the delta band will lower your arousal. But it’s important to recognize that the emotional state you are in before listening to binaural beats does influence where binaural beats can ‘take’ you. For example, if you are in a negative emotional state, on the negative side of the valence axis, then binaural beats in the beta band may raise your arousal but will leave you on that negative side of valence. 

Before listening to binaural beats, it can be helpful to use music to shift your mental state to a more positive valence. Music is better at shifting valence because musical components like tempo, volume, timbre, and key affect the emotional expression of each piece. Music with a quicker tempo, higher volume, major key, and lower harmonics are associated with positive valence and will shift you to a happier emotional state. 

Wrapping up Binaural Beats

If you’re new to binaural beats, start simple. Don’t overcomplicate the experience, just listen to good quality binaural beats audio with a good pair of stereo headphones. You can find the perfect listening setup for you later. Once you try binaural beats, you’ll start reaping the benefits. Enhance your mood and cognition, improve your focus and concentration, and reduce your anxiety. Depending on the frequency band you’re listening to, you can induce a change in arousal and therefore, emotional state. Just remember that frequency bands aren’t associated with a positive or negative valence. Binaural beats can influence arousal and the associated affective states along the arousal axis, but won’t shift your valence state. Even so, binaural beats can help you transform your life and take command of your mental state.